Forest of Birse
Encyclopedia
The Forest of Birse is the name given to a remote upland area in the upper catchment of the Water of Feugh
, which forms the south-western portion of the Parish of Birse
, Aberdeenshire
, Scotland
. It also forms the western part of the community of Finzean
, but has a separate, complex history of landownership relating to its status as a commonty
, which has involved a large number of disputes since the 16th century. In more recent decades, the Forest has been a popular destination for people from Aberdeen
taking picnic
s, as it is the closest area of Highland
scenery to the city.
) which join the river about 1 kilometre upstream from Woodend. Otherwise the boundary generally follows the watershed of the Feugh, which runs along the tops of the following hills (clockwise from the south): Baudnacauner, Cock Hill, Hill of Cammie, Mudlee Bracks, Tampie, Gannoch, Hill of St, Colm, Craigmahandle, Hill of Duchery, Brackenstake, Lamahip and Corybeg. The Forest of Birse extends to approximately 35 square kilometres, and reaches its highest point at Gannoch (731 m).
The underlying bedrock
of the Forest of Birse is granite
, from which most of the soil
in the area is derived. However, a thick layer of peat
has formed over many of the higher hills, creating extensive areas of blanket bog
. Historically, a 'Forest
' was an uncultivated area set aside for hunting and was not necessarily wooded, and indeed Heather
moorland
is the principal habitat in the Forest of Birse. However, native pine woodland
has regenerated across approximately 5 square kilometres of the northern slopes of the Forest of Birse since the Second World War, principally on the Finlets, Lamahip and Bogturk hills. There are also fragments of riparian woodland
along many of the watercourses of the Forest, containing a diverse range of native trees including birch
, hazel
, aspen
and holly
. Within the Forest of Birse there are two small areas of cultivated land at Auchabrack and Ballochan, which also contain the Forest's only inhabited buildings. These comprise Birse Castle and three other houses.
The rich wildlife
of the Forest of Birse includes the Mountain Hare
, Red
and Roe Deer
, Red Grouse
, Black Grouse
, Golden Plover
, Hen Harrier
, Merlin
, Peregrine
, Crossbills and the area is occasionally visited by Golden Eagles and Capercaillie
. Part of the area was declared an Important Bird Area
by BirdLife International
and there was an unsuccessful attempt to have part of the area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
in the early 1990s.
The earliest inhabitants of the Forest were mesolithic
hunter-gatherer
s about 8000 years ago. However, the first evidence of settlement comes from the Bronze Age
, about 3000 years ago, in the form of field system
s, clearance cairn
s and hut circles, of which there are several good examples in the Forest of Birse. At this time, cereal
crops were probably grown on areas that are now covered with heather
. At the beginning of the Iron Age
there was a climatic deterioration
and these farms were probably abandoned at that time and gradually reclaimed by nature. The Forest of Birse remained uninhabited from then until the 17th century.
By the 10th century AD, the Forest of Birse (along with the rest of Birse
) had become the personal property of the King of Scots, and was used as a Royal Hunting Forest
. Kenneth II hunted here in 995 AD and Kenneth III in 1005 AD. In 1170, King William the Lion
gave Birse to Matthew, Bishop of Aberdeen. The charter associated with this transfer is the first reference to the uninhabited Forest of Birse as a distinct area from the rest of Birse
, where most of the population lived. Over the following 400 years the Bishops allowed the inhabitants of the wider parish of Birse the common
right to use the Forest for the collection of timber
and peat
and for summer grazing
.
The Bishop of Aberdeen
sold off their properties in Birse between 1549 and 1620, around the time of the reformation
. All of the new landowners (and their tenants
) were also granted the common
right to use the Forest for timber, peat and grazing. The Forest itself was sold to William Gordon of Cluny in 1585 and in 1610 the Gordons enclosed
the best part of the common grazing, brought in tenant farmer
s and built a castle
. However, after falling into debt, the Gordons of Cluny
sold the Forest to William Douglas of Glenbervie
in 1636 and in 1640 the other landowners in Birse burnt down Birse castle and drove the tenant farmers out of the Forest in order to re-establish their common rights there. In 1666 the Forest was sold to the Earl of Aboyne
.
In 1724 the Earl of Aboyne enclosed the land around Birse Castle again and once more tenant farmers were brought into the forest. At around the same time, the Farquharsons of Finzean
enclosed another area of land in the Forest at Auchabrack, which had previously been the site of a shieling
for one of their tenants. This encroachment onto the common grazing led to legal disputes with the other landowners with rights in the Forest, which were resolved by the Court of Session
in 1755. The ruling allowed the two enclosed areas to remain as the private property of the Earl of Aboyne and the Farquharsons of Finzean respectively, but reconfirmed the common rights of everyone in Birse over the remainder of the Forest.
During the 19th century, the rise in the popularity and economic value of Grouse
shooting associated with the Victorian era
led to a series of legal disputes over the hunting rights in the Forest that were not fully resolved until 1897. The final ruling was that, while the Earl of Aboyne owned the land in the Forest, the hunting rights were divided between the Earl of Aboyne and the neighbouring estate of Ballogie
, which had been bought by the Nicol family in the 1850s. The division of hunting rights (which remains to this day) follows a line from the summit of Gannoch, down the Allanstank burn, along the Feugh to the Forest of Birse kirk and then along a track which runs north to Glencat. Ballogie estate have the hunting rights to the south and east of this line (the majority of the Forest).
In the same year as the final ruling on the hunting rights, the Earl of Aboyne sold the Forest of Birse to Joseph Robert Heaven, who rebuilt Birse Castle. After Heaven died in 1911, the Forest of Birse was bought by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray
and became part of his Dunecht estate
. In 1978, ownership of Dunecht estates (including the Forest of Birse) was passed by the 3rd Viscount Cowdray
to his younger son, Charles Pearson, who is the current owner. The farmland at Auchabrack was sold by the Farquharsons of Finzean to the Nicols of Ballogie in 1938.
Throughout most of the 20th century, the Forest of Birse was largely treated as an extension of the two estates which shared the hunting rights, as the older, common uses, such as summer grazing, peat cutting and timber had largely fallen into disuse. However, in the 1970s the regeneration of woodland in part of the forest and the felling of a small area of mature woodland by Dunecht estate raised awareness of the ancient common rights held by all the inhabitants of Birse parish, as the use of timber was one of these common rights.
After several years of negotiation, a historic agreement was reached in 1999, in which the ancient rights over the Forest held by all the inhabitants of Birse parish were vested in a body known as Birse Community Trust, which uses these rights to manage the 5 square kilometres of woodland that is regenerating in the north-east part of the Forest. Ballogie and Dunecht estates continue to manage the remainder of the Forest primarily for Grouse shooting, and all three parties have regular meetings to discuss matters of common interest in the Forest.
Water of Feugh
The Water of Feugh is a stream in Aberdeenshire that is the largest tributary to the River Dee. This stream rises in the Grampian Mountains of Scotland, in an area known as the Forest of Birse, and has a particularly scenic aspect in a series of cascades at the Bridge of Feugh slightly above its...
, which forms the south-western portion of the Parish of Birse
Birse
Birse is a parish in the Lower Deeside area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which includes the communities of Finzean and Ballogie. However the name Birse is often used to refer only to the northwestern part of the parish which lies on the south side of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, opposite the...
, Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire
Aberdeenshire is one of the 32 unitary council areas in Scotland and a lieutenancy area.The present day Aberdeenshire council area does not include the City of Aberdeen, now a separate council area, from which its name derives. Together, the modern council area and the city formed historic...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. It also forms the western part of the community of Finzean
Finzean
Finzean is a rural community, electoral polling district, community council area and former ecclesiastical parish, which forms the southern part of the Parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland...
, but has a separate, complex history of landownership relating to its status as a commonty
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
, which has involved a large number of disputes since the 16th century. In more recent decades, the Forest has been a popular destination for people from Aberdeen
Aberdeen
Aberdeen is Scotland's third most populous city, one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas and the United Kingdom's 25th most populous city, with an official population estimate of ....
taking picnic
Picnic
In contemporary usage, a picnic can be defined simply as a pleasure excursion at which a meal is eaten outdoors , ideally taking place in a beautiful landscape such as a park, beside a lake or with an interesting view and possibly at a public event such as before an open air theatre performance,...
s, as it is the closest area of Highland
Scottish Highlands
The Highlands is an historic region of Scotland. The area is sometimes referred to as the "Scottish Highlands". It was culturally distinguishable from the Lowlands from the later Middle Ages into the modern period, when Lowland Scots replaced Scottish Gaelic throughout most of the Lowlands...
scenery to the city.
Description
The eastern boundary of the Forest of Birse is marked by the Finlets and Laird's burns; two minor tributaries of the Feugh (itself a tributary of the River DeeRiver Dee, Aberdeenshire
The River Dee is a river in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. It rises in the Cairngorms and flows through Strathdee to reach the North Sea at Aberdeen...
) which join the river about 1 kilometre upstream from Woodend. Otherwise the boundary generally follows the watershed of the Feugh, which runs along the tops of the following hills (clockwise from the south): Baudnacauner, Cock Hill, Hill of Cammie, Mudlee Bracks, Tampie, Gannoch, Hill of St, Colm, Craigmahandle, Hill of Duchery, Brackenstake, Lamahip and Corybeg. The Forest of Birse extends to approximately 35 square kilometres, and reaches its highest point at Gannoch (731 m).
The underlying bedrock
Bedrock
In stratigraphy, bedrock is the native consolidated rock underlying the surface of a terrestrial planet, usually the Earth. Above the bedrock is usually an area of broken and weathered unconsolidated rock in the basal subsoil...
of the Forest of Birse is granite
Granite
Granite is a common and widely occurring type of intrusive, felsic, igneous rock. Granite usually has a medium- to coarse-grained texture. Occasionally some individual crystals are larger than the groundmass, in which case the texture is known as porphyritic. A granitic rock with a porphyritic...
, from which most of the soil
Soil
Soil is a natural body consisting of layers of mineral constituents of variable thicknesses, which differ from the parent materials in their morphological, physical, chemical, and mineralogical characteristics...
in the area is derived. However, a thick layer of peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
has formed over many of the higher hills, creating extensive areas of blanket bog
Blanket bog
Blanket bog or blanket mire is an area of peatland, forming where there is a climate of high rainfall and a low level of evapotranspiration, allowing peat to develop not only in wet hollows but over large expanses of undulating ground. The blanketing of the ground with a variable depth of peat...
. Historically, a 'Forest
Forest
A forest, also referred to as a wood or the woods, is an area with a high density of trees. As with cities, depending where you are in the world, what is considered a forest may vary significantly in size and have various classification according to how and what of the forest is composed...
' was an uncultivated area set aside for hunting and was not necessarily wooded, and indeed Heather
Calluna
Calluna vulgaris is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade...
moorland
Moorland
Moorland or moor is a type of habitat, in the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome, found in upland areas, characterised by low-growing vegetation on acidic soils and heavy fog...
is the principal habitat in the Forest of Birse. However, native pine woodland
Caledonian Forest
The Caledonian Forest is the name of a type of woodland that once covered vast areas of Scotland. Today, however, only 1% of the original forest survives, covering in 84 locations. The forests are home to a wide variety of wildlife, much of which is not found elsewhere in the British...
has regenerated across approximately 5 square kilometres of the northern slopes of the Forest of Birse since the Second World War, principally on the Finlets, Lamahip and Bogturk hills. There are also fragments of riparian woodland
Woodland
Ecologically, a woodland is a low-density forest forming open habitats with plenty of sunlight and limited shade. Woodlands may support an understory of shrubs and herbaceous plants including grasses. Woodland may form a transition to shrubland under drier conditions or during early stages of...
along many of the watercourses of the Forest, containing a diverse range of native trees including birch
Birch
Birch is a tree or shrub of the genus Betula , in the family Betulaceae, closely related to the beech/oak family, Fagaceae. The Betula genus contains 30–60 known taxa...
, hazel
Hazel
The hazels are a genus of deciduous trees and large shrubs native to the temperate northern hemisphere. The genus is usually placed in the birch family Betulaceae, though some botanists split the hazels into a separate family Corylaceae.They have simple, rounded leaves with double-serrate margins...
, aspen
Populus tremula
Populus tremula, commonly called aspen, common aspen, Eurasian aspen, European aspen, trembling poplar, or quaking aspen, is a species of poplar native to cool temperate regions of Europe and Asia, from the British Isles east to Kamchatka, north to inside the Arctic Circle in Scandinavia and...
and holly
Holly
Ilex) is a genus of 400 to 600 species of flowering plants in the family Aquifoliaceae, and the only living genus in that family. The species are evergreen and deciduous trees, shrubs, and climbers from tropics to temperate zones world wide....
. Within the Forest of Birse there are two small areas of cultivated land at Auchabrack and Ballochan, which also contain the Forest's only inhabited buildings. These comprise Birse Castle and three other houses.
The rich wildlife
Wildlife
Wildlife includes all non-domesticated plants, animals and other organisms. Domesticating wild plant and animal species for human benefit has occurred many times all over the planet, and has a major impact on the environment, both positive and negative....
of the Forest of Birse includes the Mountain Hare
Mountain Hare
The Mountain Hare , also known as Blue Hare, Tundra Hare, Variable Hare, White Hare, Alpine Hare and Irish Hare, is a hare, which is largely adapted to polar and mountainous habitats. It is distributed from Fennoscandia to eastern Siberia; in addition there are isolated populations in the Alps,...
, Red
Red Deer
The red deer is one of the largest deer species. Depending on taxonomy, the red deer inhabits most of Europe, the Caucasus Mountains region, Asia Minor, parts of western Asia, and central Asia. It also inhabits the Atlas Mountains region between Morocco and Tunisia in northwestern Africa, being...
and Roe Deer
Roe Deer
The European Roe Deer , also known as the Western Roe Deer, chevreuil or just Roe Deer, is a Eurasian species of deer. It is relatively small, reddish and grey-brown, and well-adapted to cold environments. Roe Deer are widespread in Western Europe, from the Mediterranean to Scandinavia, and from...
, Red Grouse
Red grouse
The Red Grouse is a medium sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the Willow Grouse but is sometimes considered to be a separate species Lagopus scoticus...
, Black Grouse
Black Grouse
The Black Grouse or Blackgame is a large bird in the grouse family. It is a sedentary species, breeding across northern Eurasia in moorland and bog areas near to woodland, mostly boreal...
, Golden Plover
Golden Plover
There are three species of wading birds in the plover family called Golden Plover. They are* Eurasian Golden Plover, Pluvialis apricaria* Pacific Golden Plover, Pluvialis fulva* American Golden Plover, Pluvialis dominica...
, Hen Harrier
Hen Harrier
The Hen Harrier or Northern Harrier is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA, and in northern Eurasia. This species is polytypic, with two subspecies. Marsh Hawk is a historical name for the American form.It migrates...
, Merlin
Merlin (bird)
The Merlin is a small species of falcon from the Northern Hemisphere. A bird of prey once known colloquially as a pigeon hawk in North America, the Merlin breeds in the northern Holarctic; some migrate to subtropical and northern tropical regions in winter.-European and North American...
, Peregrine
Peregrine
Peregrine, Latin Peregrinus, is a name originally meaning "one from abroad", that is, a foreigner, traveller, or pilgrim. It may refer to:- Birds :* Peregrine Falcon, a bird of prey* The Peregrine Fund, a bird conservation organization- People :...
, Crossbills and the area is occasionally visited by Golden Eagles and Capercaillie
Capercaillie
The Western Capercaillie , also known as the Wood Grouse, Heather Cock or Capercaillie , is the largest member of the grouse family, reaching over 100 cm in length and 6.7 kg in weight. The largest one ever recorded in captivity had a weight of 7.2 kg....
. Part of the area was declared an Important Bird Area
Important Bird Area
An Important Bird Area is an area recognized as being globally important habitat for the conservation of bird populations. Currently there are about 10,000 IBAs worldwide. The program was developed and sites are identified by BirdLife International...
by BirdLife International
BirdLife International
BirdLife International is a global Partnership of conservation organisations that strives to conserve birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources...
and there was an unsuccessful attempt to have part of the area designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
in the early 1990s.
History
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
hunter-gatherer
Hunter-gatherer
A hunter-gatherer or forage society is one in which most or all food is obtained from wild plants and animals, in contrast to agricultural societies which rely mainly on domesticated species. Hunting and gathering was the ancestral subsistence mode of Homo, and all modern humans were...
s about 8000 years ago. However, the first evidence of settlement comes from the Bronze Age
Bronze Age Britain
Bronze Age Britain refers to the period of British history that spanned from c. 2,500 until c. 800 BC. Lasting for approximately 1700 years, it was preceded by the era of Neolithic Britain and was in turn followed by the era of Iron Age Britain...
, about 3000 years ago, in the form of field system
Field system
The study of field systems in landscape history is concerned with the size, shape and orientation of a number of fields. These are often adjacent, but may be separated by a later feature.-Types of field system:...
s, clearance cairn
Cairn
Cairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
s and hut circles, of which there are several good examples in the Forest of Birse. At this time, cereal
Cereal
Cereals are grasses cultivated for the edible components of their grain , composed of the endosperm, germ, and bran...
crops were probably grown on areas that are now covered with heather
Calluna
Calluna vulgaris is the sole species in the genus Calluna in the family Ericaceae. It is a low-growing perennial shrub growing to tall, or rarely to and taller, and is found widely in Europe and Asia Minor on acidic soils in open sunny situations and in moderate shade...
. At the beginning of the Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
there was a climatic deterioration
Historical climatology
Historical climatology is the study of historical changes in climate and their effect on human history and development. This differs from paleoclimatology which encompasses climate change over the entire history of the earth. The study seeks to define periods in human history where temperature or...
and these farms were probably abandoned at that time and gradually reclaimed by nature. The Forest of Birse remained uninhabited from then until the 17th century.
By the 10th century AD, the Forest of Birse (along with the rest of Birse
Birse
Birse is a parish in the Lower Deeside area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which includes the communities of Finzean and Ballogie. However the name Birse is often used to refer only to the northwestern part of the parish which lies on the south side of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, opposite the...
) had become the personal property of the King of Scots, and was used as a Royal Hunting Forest
Royal forest
A royal forest is an area of land with different meanings in England, Wales and Scotland; the term forest does not mean forest as it is understood today, as an area of densely wooded land...
. Kenneth II hunted here in 995 AD and Kenneth III in 1005 AD. In 1170, King William the Lion
William I of Scotland
William the Lion , sometimes styled William I, also known by the nickname Garbh, "the Rough", reigned as King of the Scots from 1165 to 1214...
gave Birse to Matthew, Bishop of Aberdeen. The charter associated with this transfer is the first reference to the uninhabited Forest of Birse as a distinct area from the rest of Birse
Birse
Birse is a parish in the Lower Deeside area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland, which includes the communities of Finzean and Ballogie. However the name Birse is often used to refer only to the northwestern part of the parish which lies on the south side of the River Dee, Aberdeenshire, opposite the...
, where most of the population lived. Over the following 400 years the Bishops allowed the inhabitants of the wider parish of Birse the common
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
right to use the Forest for the collection of timber
Lumber
Lumber or timber is wood in any of its stages from felling through readiness for use as structural material for construction, or wood pulp for paper production....
and peat
Peat
Peat is an accumulation of partially decayed vegetation matter or histosol. Peat forms in wetland bogs, moors, muskegs, pocosins, mires, and peat swamp forests. Peat is harvested as an important source of fuel in certain parts of the world...
and for summer grazing
Transhumance
Transhumance is the seasonal movement of people with their livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and to lower valleys in winter. Herders have a permanent home, typically in valleys. Only the herds travel, with...
.
The Bishop of Aberdeen
Bishop of Aberdeen
The Bishop of Aberdeen was the ecclesiastical head of the Diocese of Aberdeen, one of Scotland's 13 medieval bishoprics, whose first recorded bishop is an early 12th century cleric named Nechtan...
sold off their properties in Birse between 1549 and 1620, around the time of the reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
. All of the new landowners (and their tenants
Tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...
) were also granted the common
Common land
Common land is land owned collectively or by one person, but over which other people have certain traditional rights, such as to allow their livestock to graze upon it, to collect firewood, or to cut turf for fuel...
right to use the Forest for timber, peat and grazing. The Forest itself was sold to William Gordon of Cluny in 1585 and in 1610 the Gordons enclosed
Enclosure
Enclosure or inclosure is the process which ends traditional rights such as mowing meadows for hay, or grazing livestock on common land. Once enclosed, these uses of the land become restricted to the owner, and it ceases to be common land. In England and Wales the term is also used for the...
the best part of the common grazing, brought in tenant farmer
Tenant farmer
A tenant farmer is one who resides on and farms land owned by a landlord. Tenant farming is an agricultural production system in which landowners contribute their land and often a measure of operating capital and management; while tenant farmers contribute their labor along with at times varying...
s and built a castle
Castle
A castle is a type of fortified structure built in Europe and the Middle East during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars debate the scope of the word castle, but usually consider it to be the private fortified residence of a lord or noble...
. However, after falling into debt, the Gordons of Cluny
Gordon Baronets
- Gordon of Letterfourie, Sutherland :The creation of Robert Gordon of Gordonstoun, 4th son of the Alexander Gordon, 12th Earl of Sutherland, to the Baronetage of Nova Scotia was the first such in that Baronetage, and until the line failed in 1908 were the premier baronets in Scotland.-Gordon of...
sold the Forest to William Douglas of Glenbervie
Douglas Baronets
The Douglas of Glenbervie, Kincardine Baronetcy was created on 28 May 1625 in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia. The Douglas of Kelhead, Scotland Baronetcy was created 26 February 1668 in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia....
in 1636 and in 1640 the other landowners in Birse burnt down Birse castle and drove the tenant farmers out of the Forest in order to re-establish their common rights there. In 1666 the Forest was sold to the Earl of Aboyne
Earl of Aboyne
Earl of Aboyne is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, borne in the Gordon family ....
.
In 1724 the Earl of Aboyne enclosed the land around Birse Castle again and once more tenant farmers were brought into the forest. At around the same time, the Farquharsons of Finzean
Finzean
Finzean is a rural community, electoral polling district, community council area and former ecclesiastical parish, which forms the southern part of the Parish of Birse, Aberdeenshire, Scotland...
enclosed another area of land in the Forest at Auchabrack, which had previously been the site of a shieling
Shieling
A shieling is a small house or hut once common in the hills and mountains of Scotland and northern England. Farmers and their families lived there during the summer, when their livestock were grazing common land in the hills...
for one of their tenants. This encroachment onto the common grazing led to legal disputes with the other landowners with rights in the Forest, which were resolved by the Court of Session
Court of Session
The Court of Session is the supreme civil court of Scotland, and constitutes part of the College of Justice. It sits in Parliament House in Edinburgh and is both a court of first instance and a court of appeal....
in 1755. The ruling allowed the two enclosed areas to remain as the private property of the Earl of Aboyne and the Farquharsons of Finzean respectively, but reconfirmed the common rights of everyone in Birse over the remainder of the Forest.
During the 19th century, the rise in the popularity and economic value of Grouse
Red grouse
The Red Grouse is a medium sized bird of the grouse family which is found in heather moorland in Great Britain and Ireland. It is usually classified as a subspecies of the Willow Grouse but is sometimes considered to be a separate species Lagopus scoticus...
shooting associated with the Victorian era
Victorian era
The Victorian era of British history was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. It was a long period of peace, prosperity, refined sensibilities and national self-confidence...
led to a series of legal disputes over the hunting rights in the Forest that were not fully resolved until 1897. The final ruling was that, while the Earl of Aboyne owned the land in the Forest, the hunting rights were divided between the Earl of Aboyne and the neighbouring estate of Ballogie
Ballogie
Ballogie is a rural community and an estate in the Lower Deeside area of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Most of Ballogie lies within the parish of Birse, although the northern part extends into the parish of Aboyne and Glentanar....
, which had been bought by the Nicol family in the 1850s. The division of hunting rights (which remains to this day) follows a line from the summit of Gannoch, down the Allanstank burn, along the Feugh to the Forest of Birse kirk and then along a track which runs north to Glencat. Ballogie estate have the hunting rights to the south and east of this line (the majority of the Forest).
In the same year as the final ruling on the hunting rights, the Earl of Aboyne sold the Forest of Birse to Joseph Robert Heaven, who rebuilt Birse Castle. After Heaven died in 1911, the Forest of Birse was bought by Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray
Weetman Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray
Weetman Dickinson Pearson, 1st Viscount Cowdray GCVO, PC , known as Sir Weetman Pearson, Bt, between 1894 and 1910 and as The Lord Cowdray between 1910 and 1917, was a British engineer, oil industrialist, benefactor and Liberal politician...
and became part of his Dunecht estate
Dunecht estate
The Dunecht Estate is one of the largest private estate in Aberdeenshire, Scotland at . It is owned by The Hon Charles Anthony Pearson, the younger son of the 3rd Viscount Cowdray...
. In 1978, ownership of Dunecht estates (including the Forest of Birse) was passed by the 3rd Viscount Cowdray
Viscount Cowdray
Viscount Cowdray, of Cowdray in the County of West Sussex, is a title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom. It was created in 1917 for the industrialist Weetman Pearson, 1st Baron Cowdray, head of the Pearson conglomerate...
to his younger son, Charles Pearson, who is the current owner. The farmland at Auchabrack was sold by the Farquharsons of Finzean to the Nicols of Ballogie in 1938.
Throughout most of the 20th century, the Forest of Birse was largely treated as an extension of the two estates which shared the hunting rights, as the older, common uses, such as summer grazing, peat cutting and timber had largely fallen into disuse. However, in the 1970s the regeneration of woodland in part of the forest and the felling of a small area of mature woodland by Dunecht estate raised awareness of the ancient common rights held by all the inhabitants of Birse parish, as the use of timber was one of these common rights.
After several years of negotiation, a historic agreement was reached in 1999, in which the ancient rights over the Forest held by all the inhabitants of Birse parish were vested in a body known as Birse Community Trust, which uses these rights to manage the 5 square kilometres of woodland that is regenerating in the north-east part of the Forest. Ballogie and Dunecht estates continue to manage the remainder of the Forest primarily for Grouse shooting, and all three parties have regular meetings to discuss matters of common interest in the Forest.